Being intentional at home while running after a dream

I absolutely love running a business from home! There can be challenges, but honestly I wouldn’t trade it for the world!
I’ve learned so much along the way, what works best for me and allows me to be productive while still keeping my family at the center of it all.

I really believe one of the keys here is being intentional with our time/ schedules and days!

A few tips that have helped me while working from home with sweet kiddos:

1. Wake up before the kids get up! I know that this can feel SO hard. Mamas, we can be spread so very thin and sleep can feel scarce and oh, so precious to us.
There are different seasons in our motherhood journeys, for me now, it makes the most sense to wake up earlier than usual and get work in before my kiddos even wake up!
I can set the tone for the day, and feel productive! Also, this quiet time without any distraction is when my best ideas flow freely! I think its super important to know when the BEST time of day is for you with creative ideas, excitement and energy and try your best to plan around that- I am definitely a morning person so waking up at 5am is extremely important! For me this completely sets my day right when I already have gotten hours of work done before anyone wakes up! 

2. Brain dump! Use an app like Trello, or even just a notepad and pen to get all of your thoughts out there. When I give myself the space to do this, I can pull from that list all throughout the day when I have little pockets of time! Knowing what I need to get done, and starring some of those priorities keeps me accountable!

3. Set your kiddos up with something fun! I try to be really intentional in this area. If I need to have a call, or work on something that I need quiet for, I take the time beforehand to connect with my kids! If we have spent time at the park or in the yard playing and I need a pocket of 20 minutes for a call, this will set everyone up for success if they have had some good quality time beforehand! 
I like to give them an activity that I know will keep them engaged. We have an art table set up, I also love things like sensory bins – any way that I can encourage creative time! Sometimes this will give me 15 minutes, sometimes longer!

4. Use your calendar to plan. For me, being intentional means planning. For example, with 4 kiddos if we want to have one on one dates with them- I have to get all of those planned out on our calendar at the beginning of the month BEFORE everything fills up so quickly! Same with work- If I can “schedule” in activities, work things and pockets of time our days will actually feel less chaotic and more organized. My kiddos have the exact same routine every night and they know exactly what to expect…. at first I thought this would be hard but truly for us, it actually brought freedom!

I have such a heart for encouraging work from home mamas! 

I think there is this lie that we can hear as mamas that we can’t be intentional at home AND pursue our dreams.

I will never forget this moment after we had a (newborn) Adelaide thinking about how I couldn’t let the “mom guilt” creep in with our 3 big kids. How my perspective had to focus on how proud and grateful I was that I had the chance to show these three kiddos what it was like to slow down and to take care of a baby. So I invited them into all the moments…the rockings, the feedings, all of it! I feel the SAME way with work…. mamas lets be super intentional with our time and our homes ( which will most likely mean early mornings and late nights). And then as we pursue dreams we can feel so proud that we have the opportunity to show our littles what it means to chase a dream, to work hard and to fight for something.